Memento Mori
by Cinerari
Summary: Psychopaths, hypnotism, ghosts? Daiba's day just can't get any worse. The ghost seems to be enjoying being back on the Arcadia though.
1. Prelude

**Oh, hey it's my first multi-chapter fic. Goodness I had no idea what to do for a summary or a title for this. I actually had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope you enjoy it. There are a few parts that can be a bit confusing, so I apologize. Some of it's intentional and some of it probably isn't. It was also edited at 5 am so I apologize for any mistakes except for continuity ones. You're just going to have to deal with those. Also, Kei apparently does all the work on the ship, yay.**

* * *

"We're picking up a distress signal fifteen kilometers out, Captain," Kei said with a frown, her voice breaking through the soft, mechanical hum that had prevailed in the main control room for the past hour.

It was about time, too. I was getting bored.

The main computer flickered to life as it zoomed in on the unknown ship. It wasn't particularly large for a spacecraft, certainly smaller than the Arcadia. Probably a transportation ship, I thought. There wasn't any obvious evidence of disturbances from the craft. It actually looked fairly pristine to me.

"It doesn't seem to be in any sort of distress," I voiced.

"Ships are fragile things," the first-mate said with a smile, staring at his newest completed model. "Everything could look perfectly fine on the outside, but one little thing out of place on the inside and everything can fall to pieces."

"Can you identify the ship?" the captain questioned evenly, ignoring our conversation.

I watched as Kei continued to frown in concentration while nimbly gliding her fingers across the panel in front of her.

Finally, the tension between her eyes eased slightly and her hands paused. "It's called the Yūrei-9, sir. It's a civilian transportation ship." She paused. Her frown deepened again. "According to its records, it mysteriously disappeared about a week ago. It was carrying seventy-two passengers and eleven crewmen."

Well, that certainly makes things interesting.

"Prepare the probing sensor," the captain ordered, rising from his chair.

"Yes, sir."

Grabbing the intercom speaker, the captain attempted to make contact with the ship. "This is the Arcadia. Yūrei-9, respond." Silence. "Yūrei-9, respond." The captain frowned and lowered the speaker. "Kei, scan for signs of life."

"Yes, sir."

We all waited. The tension felt thick enough to strangle.

The computer made three separate pings. Now things were really interesting.

"Captain," Kei said uncertainly. "We're picking up three life forms: two in the upper starboard wings and one in the mid port wings."

"Do a sonar scan."

And the cycle repeated itself. Kei ghosting her hands across the console, the waiting, the silence. It was broken once more by the soft ringing of the computer.

"There are sounds," Kei informed us. "However, they're too quiet to properly pick up. Judging by the pattern of the waves, they're most likely breathing."

"How about we go take a look then?" Harlock asked, turning to leave.

Sounds like fun. "I'll go with you."

He didn't say anything to me, but I wasn't put off. He only said something when he objected.

* * *

Kei's voice sounded through the communication bug in my ear. "The group of two is currently closer to your position than the single one. Would you like directions to them first?"

She's hesitating to call them people, funny.

"Yes, Kei. How close are we?" the captain asked. His eyes searched the hallway that curved just enough to keep us from seeing what lay ahead. I felt myself frowning. The ship appeared to be the same on the inside as it had been on the outside – nothing out of place except for the eerie quiet.

"Only about two-hundred yards – head sternward down the hallway you're in. I'll tell you when you reach the room they're in," Kei responded, dragging me from my thoughts.

"Captain, why don't we just split up? I could go find the one on the port side, and you could get these two." The idea seemed to make enough sense to me.

Of course, I have a tendency to be wrong. "Don't be fooled by the silence, Daiba. Things may not be as peaceful as they seem. Remember, there are supposed to be over eighty people here, and obviously there's not. We don't know what's out there." He began walking. "Stay close. I don't have a good feeling about this."

I followed obediently. If the captain didn't have good feeling about something then we were probably all screwed. I unconsciously brought my hand up to rest on my gun.

The hallway seemed to stretch out infinitely, and the journey drug out even more due to our inability to see what lay ahead. I found myself jumping at the sound of Kei's voice in my ear.

"You should be coming up on it to your left in a moment."

Thank God. This silence of the place was deafening, and I was honestly starting to get a bit freaked out.

And then I was really freaked out. I froze in my tracks, and Harlock did as well. He reached up to press the receiver in his ear.

"Kei, could you scan for life again?"

"On it, sir." She paused. "Is there something wrong? You should be very close to where they were originally picked up on the scanner."

We were certainly close enough in my opinion. Even if whoever was over there was alive – heck, even if they were human, I really didn't care enough about them to want to see what was around that bend. The blood splatters that painted almost the entirety of the wall red in that area showed me more than enough. I could even faintly smell that metallic sharpness that could only come from blood.

"Kei, what did the scan say?" The way he ignored her question worried me. There was something he wasn't telling me, and it was really starting to piss me off.

"The two that you were headed toward are no longer on radar." Her voice was hollow. "The other one is still there, though."

"Daiba, we're leaving," he said, suddenly turning about and quickly walking the direction we'd come.

"What? But-"

"Now," his tone threatened, and I ran to catch up.

"Captain, what the hell is going on? You know something you aren't telling me," I demanded as I reached his side.

"I'll tell you once we're back on the ship. Just stay close. Don't wander off no matter what you see or hear." His expression and tone were even, but his words worried me.

"What does that mean?"

No response.

"Hey!" I yelled.

Then the lights flickered, and when they came back on, I was alone.

I stopped and looked around as if there was somewhere he could have gone. The hallway was one long stretch with no intersections that we had come across. He had said not to wander off no matter what I saw, but what about not seeing anything? What in the hell was going on? Was this some sort of strangely lifelike dream? If so, when was I waking up?

And then my dream was a nightmare, and I was positive that was all it could be. The walls began to seep blood, painting them a bright crimson. The hollow tapping sound of footsteps was approaching me with a slow, steady rhythm, but I couldn't tell with direction they were coming from.

Tap. Tap. My hand went to my gun.

Tap. Tap. Tap. The lights flickered again. The blood from the walls had reached the floor.

Tap. I unholsterd my gun and brought up in front of myself.

Tap. Flicker. Tap. Flicker. The lights on either side of me were going out in rhythm with those damn footsteps that kept getting closer on one side of me that I still couldn't figure out.

Tap. Flicker. Tap. Only the light above me was left, and the footsteps were right next to me. The blood was in a circle all around me - closing in on me.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. I sank to my knees gripping my head. I could feel the warm blood soaking into my pant legs. I figured out where the footsteps were coming from.

Tap. Tap. "Stop it!" I clenched my eyes shut.

Tap. "Get the hell out of my head!"

_My, my we've certainly got a weak spirit for a pirate, don't we? _

The footsteps ceased. My eyes snapped open. I was in a room somehow, a rectangular room with one long table covered by a white table cloth and surrounded by chairs. It was some sort of first class dining area. Most of the upholstery along with the floor was deep red. The same red that wasn't currently surrounding me or dyeing my pant legs. The same red as blood. No, now I was sitting at the head of this long table. Wait, when did I start sitting?

This was some nightmare.

_Oh, sorry, boy, I do apologize, but I'm afraid this isn't a dream, or a nightmare, as you like it._

The voice was clear and precise in my head just as the footsteps had been. It didn't have a source, but somehow I knew when I looked up at the other end of the table its owner would be there. And he was, exactly where no one had been moments ago. His outfit was entirely a blinding white except for the inside of the cape he wore which was the same red that seemed to have started following me. He wore white gloves and a white masquerade mask as well. His hair was a short, choppy pale blond, and there was a malicious smile that didn't seem to be fading from his face any time soon.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the voice in my head cut me off.

_Yes, yes, I know. 'Who are you, and what in the hell is going on?' You're awfully repetitive. Did you know?_

I was stunned into silence for a moment. Then when I was finally about to speak again, I was cut off once more by the man across from me.

_Honestly, haven't you caught on yet? I'm not only sending you my thoughts, I'm also receiving yours. You don't need to speak. And here I thought you were intelligent, but I suppose men of science often have trouble grasping concepts such as this._

Alright then, I decided. I would play his game.

'Where's the person I came in with,' I thought clearly.

_Ah, you'll find out soon enough. Oh come now, don't be so angry. I assure you he has yet to be harmed. _His cocky voice was really ticking me off.

'Yet? I really don't think you know who you're dealing with.'

_I don't? Well, we shall just have to see about that._

'So are you going to tell me who you are, or should I just make up a name for you?'

_You're awfully sure of yourself for someone who-_

'How about Sparkles? I think it fits well with that whole, uh, clothing situation you've got.' His smile wavered into a scowl. Score one for me.

_Ha-ha-ha, I've got to hand it to you, kid. That was pretty good, but you should probably shut up before he kills you._ I paused for a moment. That voice had been different. It was warmer, more human.

'What? There are two of you now?' I questioned. A smile grew on Sparkle's face once more, and he tilted his head slightly to the side.

_Are you losing it already, boy? It's not as fun if you start going insane this early in the game. We haven't really even started yet._

'Hey, don't screw with me. There was another voice just then.'

_Wait, kid, can you actually hear me? _There he was again.

'Of course I can. Your voice is echoing in my head'

_Goodness, boy. I'm not sure if you're attempting to accomplish something here, but it really isn't going to do any good for you either way. Perhaps we should just go ahead and begin. We've had enough pleasantries as it is._

'What are you talking about, Sparkles?'

_That's enough of that. _His voice hissed through my head. _From now until I end your miserable existence you will call me master._

'And why the hell would I do that?'

_I'm afraid you aren't going to have much of a choice, kid. _The other voice told me apologetically.

_Now then,_ Spar- No, Master my brain corrected me oddly. Master interrupted before I could ask anything else. _Let's begin, shall we?_

He pulled something out from beneath the table – a gun – my gun. How did he get that? Why hadn't I noticed before?

_Boy, you didn't notice before, because I didn't want you to. I am an in control of everything you think and perceive. Every decision you make is my own. I am your master._

'Oh, really, Mast-…Mas- Ma-' I couldn't even think the nickname anymore. No matter what I tried to call him, it always came out the same.

_Sorry, kid. I tried to warn you._

Master looked absolutely delighted with my frustrations. _Do you finally understand? Good,_ the word echoed through my head as he threw my gun toward me so it landed to slide perfectly up to me. I wanted to reach out a hand and take it, but, no, I didn't.

_Just give it up, boy,_ Master said lazily. _I've used this technique on over two thousand people, and only two have ever been able to resist it. One is dead, and the other you're going to kill for me._

_WHAT?_

The other voice's yell or thought or something was so loud that it made me dizzy for a moment.

_There's no way. Kid, you're not from-_

But Master cut him off. _Alright, boy, time for you to go kill Harlock for me. Off you go then, _he grinned as the door behind him opened.

I wanted to walk out the door. I wanted to find Harlock, and I wanted to kill him. There was no question of why of how. It was just something I had to do, wanted to do.

_Don't you dare, kid. Don't you even think about it._

That was the one thing that bothered me - that voice. Master said it wasn't there, so why could I hear it. And why did it sound so angry?

I was walking toward the door. That other voice kept yelling. It was making everything so foggy. I had to go kill Harlock, but why? Did I want to? Of course I did. No, I didn't. Yes. No.

My next step put me beside Master. We were facing opposite directions. Our sleeves brushed. I wanted to kill Harlock because… because…

And then there was the sharp grip of a hand on my wrist. I turned toward the direction the hand was pulling me, but there was no one there. I had to… had to…

My mind was clear. Just for the shortest moment it was clear. There was a man standing there holding my wrist. I caught only the slightest glimpse of him - I didn't recognize him – and then thoughts, emotions, memories were all being pressed down on my head. It wasn't like before where the thought was just there in my head as though it were my own. These were definitely not mine, but they were trying to find space to be. It felt as though my head would spit at any moment. Fragments, images stabbed into me. A woman, a baby, the earth, destruction, lost, the woman again – no – she was different, snow, an explosion, fire, pain, a man in a white mask grinning, a gun I was pointing at myself.

NO! This wasn't me!

And just like that I was awake again. I was shaking so much, clutching my head. I could still feel the shards of memory fragments stabbing into me, but I wasn't forced to see them anymore. I felt so tired. I just wanted to sleep.

"Kid?" An uncertain voice came to me as though it were miles away. "Kid, are you…? I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that this would happen."

My exhausted brain registered red. Blood, it seemed to take me hours to realize. There was blood all around me and all over me. My hands no longer shook as I brought them away from my head. I couldn't conjure up an emotion as I stared at through my blood stained fingers to see a dead man who had once been in white. It was just red now. My vision blurred and faded. Everything was so red.

"Kid? Hey, hang on!"

* * *

I had woken up in the infirmary enough times to know where I was before I even opened my eyes. There was the sharp, sterile smell of all medical areas mixed with a hint of the dull scent of sake.

"Hey, kid, are you finally awake?"

No.

I was not hearing that.

I was still dreaming.

"Well, you don't have to get up yet, I suppose."

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

I forced my eyes open and searched the room.

"Over here," he said calmly, grabbing my attention.

I had to turn my head to see him properly. He was sitting on the bed beside mine, waving his hand ever so slightly back and forth until he was sure he had my attention. I was certain he was the same man I had caught a glimpse of before. He was the one who caused me so much pain.

I made an effort to scowl and glare at him. "Who are you?" I asked forcefully as I fully took in his appearance. He looked to be about in his early to mid-thirties. He had wavy medium length auburn hair, shorter than mine, that seemed to permanently curl up in one spot on the side. He had similar deep brown eyes to mine and wore a dark red shirt with a black jacket highlighted by a few choice spots of yellow. His most defining feature, however, was the burn scar swirling on his left cheek. It crept up from his neck to brush beneath his eye without touching it.

"You shouldn't talk so loud," he replied to my question calmly. He watched me with interested eyes without moving even the slightest amount.

"Why not?" I growled. My voice was still was fairly loud.

"Because people will think you're crazy just like 'Sparkles' did." He smirked lightly when he said the nickname.

"What are you-?"

"Daiba, who are you talking to?"

I turned my head over to the other side to see the short doctor staring at me curiously. A syringe filled with a clear liquid sat ready in his hand.

"That guy over on the bed beside me," I responded simply.

I heard a sigh come from the other bed. "Goodnight again, Kid."

I turned my head back toward him. "Wha-?"

I was cut off again as the sharp sting of a needle pressed into my neck. Within seconds I was fighting to keep my eyes open. "What?" I slurred. What was going on?

"Sorry, kid. I tried to warn you." His voice was fading. "You're the only one who can see and hear me. To everyone else it just looks like you're talking to nothing. I guess you'd call me a ghost. I died some years back, lost count of how many, though. My name's Zero by the way. Warrius Zero. It's nice to meet you."

And then I slipped back into darkness again.

* * *

**Haha oh continuity. I do apologize. Goodness it's 5 in the morning. Guess I should do my homework before school. Anyway, hope you liked it. I'll get chapter two up at some point. **


	2. Siciliano

**Wow, I can't believe I got this done so quickly. Hope it's still good. Thanks for all of you reviews, but now I feel like a bad person for killing Zero. Promise he'll be alive in my next story with him. Since this I an explanation chapter, there isn't a whole lot going on, but I hope it at least makes things make more sense for you. By the way, I'm starting out in Zero's pov here, but it switches back to Daiba. Sorry if there are any mistakes. I hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

I would have sworn the kid kept a constant scowl on his face, even when he was asleep like he was now. I almost felt bad that the doctor had knocked him out again for talking to me, but I had tried to warn him. Besides, sleep wasn't harming him in any way.

My ears perked up to the sounds of talking in the adjacent room. I stood up from the bed I had been sitting on and walked to the other side of the room. I managed to get to the door between the two rooms before I was forced to stop. I couldn't go any further, not because of the wall or the door being closed – I could have easily passed through those if I had wanted to – but because the kid was the anchor that held me down into reality and the chain between us only stretched so far.

I leaned back against the door and listened. Even though it was muffled by the wall, it was nice to hear conversation between two people that weren't about to be killed for the entertainment of a lunatic. It had been a long time since I had heard it.

"He was talking to himself?" Harlock. Leave it to him to say something like that without any emotion in his voice.

"He said he was talking to someone next him. I scanned his brain activity again, but everything checks out fine. My assumption would be that his mind is extremely stressed from what happened. Given some time to rest, he'll probably be alright."

"But, Doctor, what did happen?"

There was a short lapse of silence.

"I'm afraid we have to wait for him to tell us that," the doctor said, finally. "But don't try to pressure it out of him if it's something that it really stresses him to think about. He obviously doesn't need to be in any more distress than he already is," the doctor scolded.

"Yeah good luck getting anything that makes sense out of him," I said to myself. I had gotten into the habit of talking to myself long ago. It made things slightly less quiet.

Suddenly a rather angry voice reached my ears. "Hell, are you still here?" it slurred.

I glanced up. The kid was up and glaring at me through foggy eyes. The drug was still in his system, and I doubted he was thinking completely clearly. He was speaking quietly, at least.

"Sorry, kid, but it looks like you're going to be stuck with me for a while," I responded, offering him a smile.

"Stop that," he growled.

"What?" I asked, my smile fading to a confused frown.

"M'not a kid," he murmured. His eyelids were drooping again.

"What are you, sixteen?"

"Fifteen," he corrected tiredly.

And there's another note on my list of things to get onto Harlock for if I ever get the chance.

"Then you are most definitely a kid," I told him simply.

He looked like he was about to send an angry retort my way, but sleep overtook him again.

I frowned as I wondered how old he might have been when I was alive. I had lost track of the years such a long time ago, and I wasn't so sure I wanted to know how long it really had been.

* * *

My eyelids felt impossibly heavy as I attempted to raise them. What the hell had the doctor given me? I registered the sound of a soft whistling to my right. The song was simple and pretty, but it was also a bit sad – haunting almost.

Finally, I managed to drag my eyelids open, but I found it difficult to not close them again. Why did the infirmary have to be so bright? The sharp white of the room stabbed at my head, and I winced against it.

The whistling beside me continued, and I rolled my head to the side to see where it was coming from.

My expression sank into a scowl. It was that same guy from before. I thought I remembered him telling me his name, but I really couldn't recall it. He was lying on the bed next to me with his fingers laced behind his head. One foot rested on his other leg's bent knee and swayed to the tune of the song. He was staring off into space as he continued to whistle, seeming to not notice that I was awake.

I was considering if I should interrogate him or pretend to be asleep again so he wouldn't bother me, when I noticed something off about the side of his head. There was a small black spot on his temple about the width of my thumb. No – not a spot – I realized – a hole.

I sat up suddenly, a horrified expression etched across my face, but when I opened my mouth to speak, I found myself unable to say anything.

The whistling cut of as he glanced over toward me. "Oh, kid, you're- are you alright?" he asked, sounding a bit concerned and very confused.

I tried to form a coherent sentence. It didn't work. "You- you're- how- what?"

"Uh, I'm sorry?" He looked as confused as I felt.

Finally, I gave up on talking. Instead, I lifted a hand up to point at the side of his head which was mostly turned away from me.

"Hmm?" he mumbled as he brought his hand up to place against his temple. Then he laughed. "Oh, yeah. Well, when I died, the scars I got when I was alive stayed with me," he said as though it were a perfectly normal, even obvious, thing to say. "This hole goes clear through my head, actually." He smiled and turned so I could see the hole on the other side. It was slightly smaller than the other.

It was the entrance point, I realized. The first side I saw was where the bullet had exited. So, he had been shot in the head from close range, judging by the size of the wounds.

Wait, that's just absurd. There's no way I'm actually talking to someone who died like this. It must all be some sort of trick.

I opened my mouth to tell him off, but he silenced me.

"Unless you feel like going back to sleep, I suggest you be quiet. It looks like you have visitors," he stated calmly.

I turned to face the door, and it opened moments later. The captain stood in the doorway with the doctor slightly behind him. He stayed there for a moment, and the doctor said something to him that I couldn't make out.

"Heh, the doctor doesn't want the captain stressing you out, because he's afraid you're going crazy," the man behind me said, sounding amused. My face twitched in annoyance, but I kept myself from saying anything to him. I really didn't want anyone thinking I actually was insane, even if I was. I was beginning to doubt myself at this point.

The captain nodded down at the doctor, who turned and walked away as the captain strode through the door. He walked up to the side of my bed, and I tried to keep my eyes on his. It was always a fairly difficult task.

His face was stoic as always, and his voice didn't betray any emotions. "How are feeling, Daiba?"

I imagined the question he was actually asking was more along the lines of 'So, been hearing any voices in your head recently?'

"I'm fine," I responded calmly.

"Daiba, I need to know what happened on that ship after we got separated." He always did get straight to the point.

"Uh, well," I stammered. My eyes darted away from his. "I'm not too sure, actually."

"You can tell him about me," the ghost said behind me. "It would actually be alright."

Oh, yeah right. Because just straight up telling the captain I was insane was obviously what I wanted to do.

"What all can you tell me?" Harlock asked

"Well," I said uncertainly. "When the lights flickered off, you disappeared, and then the walls started seeping blood and there were these footsteps."

I paused with a frown, unsure of what to tell him.

"Do you remember meeting a masked man?" the captain asked.

I glanced up to see his expression, but there was still no change.

"Yeah," I told him about the room, the man in white, and being told to kill him. I left out quite a bit like the nicknames and the second voice. The ghost stayed surprisingly quiet throughout the whole thing. When I got to the part where I had been standing next to the masked man, I stopped. His expression still hadn't really changed, and I bowed my head to hide my face.

"I-I don't really remember what happened next." I told him. It was sort of the truth, actually.

"You don't remember anything after that?" Harlock asked as though he could sense my partial lie.

I shook my head.

"That man in the white mask is dead," the captain told me with a slight frown to his voice. "You killed him."

My head shot up. "What? I-I don't…" But I couldn't think of what to say. I swallowed thickly. "How did I kill him?" I could remember the red. There had been so much red.

"You took his sword, and you stabbed him." The captain's brows were drawn together.

A voice sounded behind me. "Actually, you stabbed him about five times." I bit my tongue to keep from turning around to yell at him.

"I…I don't remember that," I whispered helplessly. My head sank back down.

Suddenly there was a pressure on the top of my head. I looked up to see the captain had placed his hand there. He had a determined look on his face.

"It's alright, Daiba. We'll find out what happened. Let me know if you remember anything else. In the meantime, just get some rest." It was almost strange for the captain to be so nice. They must really have been worried about me getting stressed.

The pressure left my head, and the captain turned to leave.

"Hang on," I said suddenly. He stopped and turned back toward me. "You said back on that ship you would tell me what was going on when we were back on the Arcadia." I felt almost nervous about asking, but I figured I deserved to know.

"I had a run in with that man before – years ago. He used a different tactic to lure us in that time, so I didn't realize it was him this time until it was too late. He killed a good comrade of mine then," he said, frowning.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I responded, looking away again.

Harlock gave a curt nod before turning back to leave. I kept quiet until the door had completely closed behind him. Then I whipped around to face what seemed to be becoming the source of all my problems.

He had been staring off in the direction of the door, smiling, but when he noticed my angered expression, his smile sobered and his eyebrows shot up.

"Start explaining," I growled quietly.

He gave a sigh. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Why – no – how did I kill that guy?"

He sighed again. "Alright, I'm going to do the best I can here, because I'm actually not too sure myself. Do you remember when I grabbed your wrist?"

I gave a curt nod. "And then I started seeing all those images," I frowned. I could still remember how much it had hurt.

"Images?" he repeated curiously. "What did you see?"

"No, you have to finish your explanation first," I demanded.

"Fine then. After I grabbed your wrist, I don't know how, but suddenly I was looking through your eyes and controlling your movements. I guess I sort of took advantage of the situation. I suppose you could say you weren't really the one that killed that man, but it was your body that did it. You've got to understand, kid. I've been stuck with this guy for a long time, and I've wanted to kill him the entire time. I just didn't have any power to do anything."

"You've been stuck with him?"

"It's like I am with you now, but I suppose you wouldn't have noticed." He paused for a moment, thinking. "It's like there's a chain between us that holds us together. We can't get too far apart. If you tried to leave this room and I tried to stay here, I would end up being dragged along with you."

"Ugh, really? We're stuck together like that?"

"Unfortunately. Hey, I feel the same way, kid."

I ignored his statement. "So how far apart can we get?"

"I can get to the door," He said, gesturing toward it.

So, about twenty feet. Wonderful.

"But if you were connected with him the same way, why couldn't he hear you?"

He gave a deep sigh. "I don't know, kid. It's one of the many things I just don't know. You're actually the only person who's ever been able to hear me, so you're the anomaly here. I wonder if maybe it's because you're connected to Harlock, but then not even he can hear me…" He trailed off and shook his head as though it would help everything make sense.

"Did you know the captain?" I asked, registering the last part of what he had said.

He gave a tired, reminiscent smile. "Yeah, we knew each other. I sailed with him a long time ago. I guess you could have called us friends," he said, though he sounded unsure of himself. "He was there…when I died."

Something clicked in my head. "Wait, were you the comrade the captain was talking about? The one who was killed by the man in white?"

He nodded slowly, the pained smile still on his face.

"So, you were a pirate?"

His eyes flashed with something I couldn't place before his face grew very serious, almost angry.

"No. I was never a pirate, and you'd better remember that. I flew the flag of the Independent Fleet. I joined Harlock on his ship only as a means to find revenge. Don't you ever call me a pirate." It was the first time I had heard him sound so threatening about something. I was surprised by how much his determination reminded me of the captain.

"What did you want revenge for?" I asked, worried I would offend him further.

"My crew," he said each word as though it hurt, and he stared at his hands balled tightly into fists. "My ship. Everything that was taken away from me."

I threw a hand to my head as one of the images flashed before me again, sending out fresh waves of pain. It was that explosion. It was huge, and I could see it as though it were in front of me. I could almost feel the heat from it as its fire sped toward me-

"Kid? Are you alright?"

I gasped for breath and blinked a few times. The image and the pain were thankfully fading quickly, but I still kept a hand to my head.

"I'm alright," I responded as I tried to regain control of my breathing. "You aren't planning on doing that whole taking over my head thing again, are you?"

He stared at me curiously for a moment before answering. "No, I'd prefer not to. After I killed that man, I could feel you sort of like you were behind me. I knew you were in pain somehow, and so I sort of let go of you. Then I was like this again. I really am sorry about that, kid. I had no idea that would happen."

"I'll accept your apology on the grounds that you stop calling me kid."

"Nah, I'm used to it."

I practically growled in annoyance. "So I should call you ghost then?

"No, you'll call me Zero." Oh, right Zero, that was what it was.

"And why should I?"

"Because, Kid, you may not have noticed yet, but I can come into contact with you." To prove his point he placed his pointer finger against my chest. I found myself surprised to feel pressure there. "And that means I can make things very difficult for you. I'm not asking much, so I suggest you do as I say on this."

"Fine," I hissed, "Zero. You know, you aren't matching up to the whole ghost profile so well here."

"You think so?" he asked lazily. "Here, how's this?"

My mind went blank as it attempted to register the arm sticking through my chest. Something in my brain finally clicked that this was very, very wrong, and I quickly scrambled backwards. I watched as each piece of his arm moved back through my chest. Just as his hand was retracted, the hand I had placed behind me met empty air instead of the bed.

I was falling for just a moment when a hand caught my wrist and jerked me back up. I blinked a few times before my vision was able to swim back to normal. Zero was grinning at me, and at that moment I didn't care if he was dead – I was going to kill him somehow.

"So, what's the deal with getting rid of you?" I said through a glare.

"So far, the only proven method has been death. Not my death obviously. Your death."

"Oh, come on," I groaned. "What's the whole deal with ghosts, again? You have something you didn't get done when you were alive that's keeping you from passing on, right? So, what is it?"

He stared at me in shock for a moment. Slowly, he opened his mouth to speak, but I never gave him the chance.

"Wait, it was the whole revenge thing, right?" He just continued to stare at me, surprise written across his face. "Alright, so I'll just find out who blew up you ship and all that, and then you can pass on and leave me alone." I wasn't sure how I was planning on getting that done, but hey, it was worth a shot.

His expression wavered into a frown. He brought a hand up to the burn scar across his cheek. "I never told you that my ship blew up. How did you know that?"

It was my turn to look stunned. I had known because…because of that image. That was it. I wasn't sure how I had connected the two things exactly, but I wasn't sure of a lot of things at this point.

"I think," I muttered uncertainly, "that I saw some of your memories."

"What do you mean? What did you see?" I couldn't read his expression.

"When you were in control of my movements, it was like our minds were being crushed together. I think those images I saw were flashes of your memories."

"What did you see?" he repeated.

I frowned and placed my hand against my head again. I was afraid trying to remember them again would bring back the pain. I closed my eyes in concentration. "There's… a woman."

"What does she look like?"

"I'm not sure." It seemed the more I reached for the memories, the more they pulled away from my grasp. "She's holding a baby."

"Oh," his voice sounded sad, distant.

"Um… I can only get glimpses of everything else. There's snow and – and…" But it was all fading away. "There's the explosion. I can see that just fine," I told him as I lifted my eyes to meet his.

He was staring intently at me, but he broke his eyes away as he nodded slowly.

It suddenly struck me how exhausted I was. I wasn't sure why, but I guessed it had something to do with all the memories crowding in my head. I lay back down onto the bed. I felt like I had been in this room, on this bed for such a long time. I really needed to get up, move around, do something, but not right now. Right now I needed to sleep.

"You feeling alright, kid?"

"Yeah, just tired."

He gave me a quick, worried glance. "Alright, then get some rest."

I had closed my eyes, but a thought struck me and I fought them open again. "Hey, Zero."

"What is it, kid?"

"Did the captain ever have his other eye when you knew him?"

He laughed. "Yeah, actually, he did. He was pretty cocky when he had depth perception too."

I felt myself smiling before I drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

**So, how bad was it? **

**How about a fun fact – the song Zero is whistling when Daiba wakes up (well at least in my mind) is the melody of Siciliano, the second movement of Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo, a song I played in band. As the oboe, I had the melody as a solo, and I loved it. This song does come up in ch. 3. I didn't just throw it in there for no reason. Bet you can't guess what I'm going to name the third chapter ;) **


	3. Rondo

**I guess I'm back from the dead. So yeah, sorry to all (two?) of you reading this. I lost the spiral I wrote this chapter in and was too stubborn to rewrite it. I should hopefully be finishing this story soon. I rewrote the summary. It still sucks.**

**So about this chapter, I have no idea how to write dogfight scenes, so I kind of didn't. Sorry. There were also quite a few facts from each of the shows I was having trouble with, so sorry cannon, allow me to kick you while you're down a few more times. Also, I make Daiba curse a lot, which is odd because I don't very much. Funny. And Zero is slightly insane because reasons. Anyway, onto the chapter. I apologize for any errors and hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"Time to get up, Kid."

"Ugh, why?" I whined into my pillow. It was nice being back in my room, so I could respond to Zero without having to worry about anyone listening. It didn't make dealing with him any more fun though.

It had been a week since I had first been stuck with him, and I was feeling increasingly exhausted as time went on. I couldn't get enough sleep, but it never made me feel any less tired. My dreams were filled with what could have only been Zero's memories, but when I would wake up, I would forget all of it. It would slip away like it was just a normal dream.

I decided against telling the ghost about it. It wasn't like he could do anything anyway. I could only guess something about two minds trying to occupy one body just didn't work well. I just had to fight through my exhaustion, and of course, that wasn't helping my attempts to pass as okay.

I had quickly learned to hold my tongue against Zero's constant barrage of comments when other people were around. I still got strange looks on occasion when I would be unable to hold back glaring at him though, and people were starting to get suspicious.

I was positive Kei and the doctor both thought there was something wrong with me. Zero had told me about the way the doctor's eyes would follow me curiously anytime my back was turned, and Kei would shadow me whenever she thought she could get away with it. I couldn't read Harlock, but I imagined he had some ideas about the state of my mental health as well.

Zero's voice intruded back into my thoughts. "Come on, Sunshine. You said you wanted to be woken up at this time. Don't make me drag you out of bed."

He would do it too, the asshole, and he would be grinning the whole time. He got a real kick out of the whole physical contact thing.

I grumbled unintelligibly at him as I dragged myself out of bed.

"You know, I've been thinking-"

"Have you?" I drawled.

"Nice one, Kid," he smirked, unaffected. "Anyway, you know what I miss most from being alive? Well, besides human interaction."

"I don't care."

"Drinking," he responded anyway. "No, getting drunk. Do you think if you got drunk that I would too?"

"I'm not going to get drunk," I scowled.

He sighed. "What kind of pirate are you?"

I refused to answer him.

"Are you ever happy?" he asked curiously.

"I thought you were supposed to be a military captain." I snapped. "You don't act much like one, you know."

His expression sobered into a small frown. "Well, that's because I'm not. I haven't been for a long time."

"Oh, yeah," I muttered uncomfortably, quickly turning away from him to get ready.

It was how a majority of our conversations went. They usually started with an argument or him trying to mess with me and ended with one of us feeling awkward for bringing up the pain of the other's past. Generally, I was the one feeling guilty at the end, and he would break the uncomfortable silence that followed.

I had just given up on the idea that he was some sort of trick or anything else that actually made sense. The memories I saw were just too vivid, and there was no option when it came to believing that they had happened. They just had. Some part of me just knew it. The question wasn't whether he was an actual ghost or a trick. It was whether he was an actual ghost or I was just insane. The latter was seeming more and more likely and, disturbingly, more appealing.

"You know," he cut in suddenly, his tone back to its normal, playful, self. "I think I like Sunshine more than Kid. It suits you better. Would you prefer I called you that?"

"Go to hell," I called calmly over my shoulder as I pulled on my gloves.

"Jeez, Kid, remind me not to try to clear the tension in the room for you again," he muttered. There was a precious moment of silence before he spoke again. "I'm sorry, but I just can't take you seriously in that outfit. Why do you wear that?"

I stared down at the black and pastel green uniform as I turned around to face him. "Kei told me to wear it, because it's better suited for fighting or something. What do you mean? It looks fine," I insisted.

"Kei?" he grinned. "I'm pretty sure she just wanted to dress you up to match her – like her little baby brother."

I felt the tips of my ears heat up. "Is it your goal in life to torture me?" I growled.

"Obviously not. I'm not 'in life,'" he responded simply.

"I hate you," I said for what must have been the hundredth time that week.

"It's not my fault you make it so easy to mess with you," he returned with a shrug.

I was beginning to feel rather ticked off at the sound of his voice. "Can't you just stay quiet for five minutes?"

"Give me a break, Kid. I haven't had anyone to talk to for years. It kind of screwed with my head a bit. You're just going to have to be the unfortunate soul that listens to me. Maybe I'm just here to teach you patience. Heaven knows you-"

I'd had enough. I needed to shut him up somehow, but the wonderful cocktail of anger and exhaustion that fueled my actions just made things worse for me. On a list of stupid things I'd done, this was impressively high up.

I felt the bones in my hand snap as a dull, metal thud reverberated loudly through the room. If my fist had actually hit his jaw instead of phasing through him, I imagined I could have broken it. He moved to the side and stared curiously at me as I stood frozen in place – my fist sitting in the dent I'd made in the wall. I was sure the moment I moved it, the pain would kick in.

"Keep your mouth shut. Don't you say a word," I hissed.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see him placing a hand over his mouth to try and hold back his obvious snickering.

There was a knock at my door. "Daiba, what was that? Are you okay?"

Shit.

"Your big sister is here," Zero said obviously.

I glared at him as I answered Kei. "I'm fine. I just… fell… into the wall… with my hand."

That had to be the stupidest sounding excuse ever given. Zero gave a snort beside me.

I grit my teeth as I continued. "I think I broke my hand."

"Oh," Kei said uncertainly, attempting to hide the disbelief in her voice. "Can I take a look at it?"

"Yeah, hang on."

As it turned out, I was right about moving my hand, and it lit up in a fire of pain as I pulled it from the bend in the wall. I walked to the door, clenching the mangled appendage to my chest and muttering a few choice words to Zero.

"I'm not going to apologize for this one, Kid," he said with another shrug, but the expression beneath his smile betrayed his words.

Kei gave me a quick once-over as the door slid open before her eyes rested on my hand. I winced as she drew it out from me and inspected it. She sighed tiredly. "Honestly, Daiba, how did you manage this?"

"It's that bad?" I asked curiously.

"Well, no, not really, but…" She broke off shaking her head. "Just go to the infirmary, and get Dr. Zero to look at it. I'm not sure if there's a break, but you definitely fractured it."

Just what I needed, another trip to the infirmary.

* * *

I stared lazily at the cast on my hand as my chin rested in the palm of the other. The cast allowed me to move my fingers, but they were each thickly wrapped, making my movements clunky. The doctor told me I could get it off in four days, but that meant four days of not holding a gun, which meant four days of being exceedingly bored.

I sat at my post in the main control room to give myself the illusion of having something to do. My boredom had me focusing on how much I wanted a nap, but I stubbornly refused to let my exhaustion get the better of me. I stared around the room, making up games out of anything that caught my eye. Zero was being conspicuously quiet, and when I looked over to where he was leaning against the wall, I realized his thoughts were obviously lost somewhere along with his distant eyes. I had drifted off into my own thoughts when Harlock's voice cut through my daydreaming.

"What's the name of that song?" he asked evenly from where he sat in his captain's chair.

It took me a moment to realize I had been humming. I tried to think of what song it had been, but I couldn't recall a thing about it. "I'm not sure," I replied finally.

"Do you know where you heard it?"

I was mildly confused by Harlock's questions, but I was too sleepy to really think or care. "No," I responded simply.

"You look tired, Daiba," Harlock said suddenly. "You should get some rest so you can be prepared if something happens."

I thought about telling him I was fine, but at that moment, sleep sounded better than pride. "Alright, Captain," I yawned, standing up. I could feel Zero falling into place behind me as I walked toward the door.

When I reached it, he began to speak. "That song doesn't have a name. Well, maybe it did, but no one knows what it was," he said quietly as though there was a chance Harlock could hear him if he spoke too loud.

I knew better than to attempt a response, so he continued for me. "Harlock probably thought it was odd to hear you humming it, because you shouldn't know it."

I forced myself to continue walking in silence in case there was someone around a corner. I remembered then where I'd heard it. It was the song Zero had been whistling when I'd woken up in the infirmary.

"My wife made up that song as a lullaby. I used to whistle it in the control room on occasion like you were humming it just then. It didn't happen often though. I'd guess only Harlock, the first mate, and Miime would recognize it. Unless you've heard it from one of them…I'm pretty curious to know what's going through Harlock's head at the moment."

He offered me a smile as I stepped through the door of my room, but I scowled at him. "Why didn't you tell me that? Why didn't you stop me?" I asked frantically. Now what did Harlock think? What could he? There weren't many logical explanations for that.

"I'm sorry," Zero frowned. "I didn't realize you were doing it."

I sighed and rubbed my now aching head as I fell back on the bed.

"He's right though, Kid," he continued. "You do look tired. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, guess I'm just a bit stressed about the hell today has turned out to be," I mumbled as I threw my arm across my eyes.

"If you say so," the ghost said distantly.

I was getting really tired of people sounding skeptical.

"Wake me up if anything interesting happens," I ordered lazily through a yawn. I wasn't sure if he answered me. I was being dragged back into the flashes of memories that I would happily forget when I woke up.

* * *

Wake up calls on the Arcadia could be very interesting or, to be more accurate, infuriating.

"Hey, Kid, something interesting is happening," Zero said with an apologetic smile as he helped me up off the ground.

It had been a few weeks since a blast to the side of the ship had rocked it enough to throw me out of bed. That didn't make it any more fun, though.

"Thanks for the heads up," I retorted, but I was still too tired to put any emotion behind it.

I ran out into the hallway, somehow managing to avoid crashing into any of the other men rushing to their battle stations until I reached the control room.

"What's going on?"

"It's a Mazone vessel," Kei responded, staring intently at her monitor. "And we've got fighter jets circling us."

"I'll get 'em," I said, trying to control my rushing adrenaline as I turned heel toward the hangar.

Zero appeared beside me as I was grabbing a spacesuit. "You know, Harlock called after you to stay put, right?"

"Did he? I didn't hear him," I said evenly.

Zero grinned. "I can't believe he puts up with you, Kid. If you don't get yourself killed, he's probably going to end up killing you."

"Maybe."

Once in my suit, I ran toward a cruiser partly to hurry to the fight and partly to keep anyone from stopping me. I was usually eager for a fight, but this time I was practically ecstatic at the idea of one. It was as though I hadn't had a good one in ages.

"You may want to turn the com system off," Zero said behind me. He was resting his elbow on the back of the cruiser's seat with his chin in his palm. "Unless you just want to listen to me complain about your flying without retort."

"I'm a good pilot," I muttered, but shut the system off anyway. There would probably be someone all too happy to complain about me through it, and I really didn't need two people doing that at once. With my right hand in a clunky grip on the steering, I started forward.

"So these are the Mazone, huh?" Zero remarked with interest as I sped out of the hangar. There looked to be about six fighter jets. "First robots, then aliens, and now plants. What's next, demons? Hmm, flank left."

"I was going to do that anyway." I wasn't, but it was actually a good idea.

"Down 60 degrees." His tone was starting to sound more like Harlock's when giving orders. "Right 30 degrees." Maybe that was why I was following them. "Shoot the port side. It looks like a blind spot." They seemed to be keeping me alive fairly easily too. "Atta boy." Maybe he wasn't such a bad captain.

I shot down the fifth pilot when a blast from the side graced my front. "This one's persistent," Zero remarked with a smirk. I turned and shot at the lone remaining pilot just as they returned fire. "I wouldn't have recommended that," he frowned, watching my front gun get taken out by the enemy's.

"I got hers too." It was true. We were both left with only our side blasters. That left me with a few options. None of them were particularly safe.

The Mazone started to race toward me, and I was about to turn when a strong set of hands closed over mine. "Oh, come on, that's no fun." Zero held a dangerous look on his face. "Let's play." With that he pushed us forward toward the oncoming ship.

"What are you doing? We're going to crash!" I protested.

His eyes narrowed in concentration, a determined smirk crossing his face. "Just an old-fashioned game of chicken. First one to flinch loses."

Just a game? Was that all my life was to him? A game? Maybe he didn't care because he was a fucking ghost, but I didn't want to die some stupid way like this. "You don't understand," I yelled. "These Mazone are insane martyrs. It's not going to care if it dies running into us!"

"Funny thing about living things," he returned. "Back someone or something into a corner, and it'll go out kicking and screaming. Even the bravest of martyrs will take the option to keep themselves alive if it's favorable. No one really wants to die, not even if they think they do."

My heart pounded in my ears as our ships sped toward each other. Would he actually try to move if we got too close? It seemed less and less likely with each second. I was going to die. Zero was going to get me killed, and everyone would think I'd died of sheer stupidity.

I desperately tried to shake off the flashes of a memory as they intruded on the present and stabbed into my head. Now really wasn't a good time. But there was nothing I could do as the stars shifted between two different patterns, and two different crafts were hurtling toward me together. Then, just at the exact moment, mere meters away, they each veered slightly off course.

"Gotcha," Zero grinned triumphantly, shooting their vulnerable side and destroying the ship in a fantastically fiery explosion.

I just sat, frozen, trying to process everything through my tired, frantic mind. I'd had closer calls and come out of scrapes worse, but in all of those, I'd been in control of what was going on around me. Death would have been my own fault in a way and due to my own actions. It was different when my life was completely out of my hands. It felt the same way with killing someone. I would have had no problems killing the man in white, but murdering him without my will choosing to do it made his death feel wrong somehow. I was too weak and tired to try processing anymore, and Zero was being strangely quiet. I didn't care why, because I was afraid if I thought about it too much, he'd speak again.

* * *

The kid dropped the last few feet from the cruiser to the ground, landing shakily on his feet. He was being oddly quiet, and I knew I'd screwed up. I needed to stop getting carried away. There was no way I would have allowed him to die, but he didn't know that.

I decided to give up the act. It was stupid of me anyway to think that I could get him to be a normal, happy kid. From what I'd learned, it wasn't Harlock's fault that Daiba's father had been killed, but I wasn't happy with him for taking the kid on-board. He was too young, and allowing him to fight was just making his hatred fester and grow. It wasn't any way to grow up, no matter what Harlock thought.

I could tell the kid was trying to hide how much he was bothered by what had happened. He kept his chin up as he pulled off his space suit and walked toward the hangar exit. When he reached the door, I placed a hand atop his head. "Sorry, Daiba, I promise I won't do that again."

He let out a quiet breath. "What are you doing?"

I let my hand fall. There was just no pleasing this kid. "Nothing," I smiled.

When the door slid open, Harlock towered over him, the faintest hint of interest in his eyes, but Daiba didn't seem to notice. He ducked his head under his captain's gaze.

"Daiba, it's one thing if you want to get yourself killed, but if you continue with stunts like that you could get someone else hurt," he spoke evenly.

Oh, I've heard those words before. Harlock, you sly dog. You have some sort of idea, don't you?

I could easily remember him shouting the exact same thing at me before. The circumstances had been only slightly different. Daiba winced oddly as I'd seen him do many times before like some sort of nervous tick.

Harlock continued as he had with me, though much calmer and not really meaning what he said. "You had better start thinking straight or you'll be off my ship."

And then I said…

"I knew what I was doing! I won didn't I?" Daiba snapped harshly.

Yeah, that. I said exactly that. Huh. "Daiba," I called cautiously.

Harlock's eyes narrowed. "Daiba is there-"

The kid must have panicked. He managed to push past his captain and through the door, running desperately down the hall toward his room. Harlock stared at his back with a look of stern confusion as I tried to avoid being dragged along by running through the wall after him.

I phased through the wall to the kid's room to find him leaning heavily back against the locked door. His eyes flashed a variety of emotions with anger being primary.

Maybe I should have stayed quiet. He jolted as I spoke. "I'm not sure that was the best course of action th-"

"Shut up!" he yelled, glaring at me hatefully. "Damn fucking ghost. Why do I have to be stuck with you? And why do I have to see that damn hole in your head all the time? Why do I have to be reminded all the time that you…" He broke off, shaking his head. It seemed that all his strength left him, and he slid down the door to sit and hug his knees.

"Sorry, Daiba," I sighed, trying to keep my expression even. "You know if I still had my hat…" I couldn't hold back a pained smile. "I wonder what happened to it. I kept it in my room, but…"

I noticed him flinch again, but he spoke up before I could ask. "He knows, doesn't he?"

"Harlock? I'm sure he has an idea, but I doubt he thinks I'm haunting you." I really needed a better word for that.

"So, what does he think?"

I gave a short laugh. "I've never claimed to know the answer to that, and I'm not going to now." His gaze slowly moved to me, though he didn't say anything. The deep bags beneath his eyes stood out heavily against his pale skin. "You look dead," I commented. I hadn't even intended to make the awful joke and pretended I didn't notice it. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Yeah, just tired." He was a terrible liar, but I decided not to press him. We lapsed back into silence, my gaze moving ahead to stare at nothing when he spoke up again. "Hey, Zero."

"Hmm?" I kept my eyes forward.

"How did you die? I mean I know you were shot, but…how?"

He finally asked. I had figured he would eventually, but I still wasn't prepared to answer. I was a coward. I didn't want to. My death had been useless. I hadn't gone out in any way that I could have felt proud of. Maybe I had felt some accomplishment at first, but time wore me down to see how foolish it had been.

"Are you sure you want to know?" I sighed, sinking down to sit next to him.

He considered his answer for a moment, but relented with a shrug. "Yeah."

I took a deep, pointless breath in and out. "Alright, do you remember how our psychopath said only two people had ever resisted his mind control, Harlock being one of them?"

"You were the other?"

"No, not exactly. I never really agreed with that statement. You see, I didn't actually disobey the orders I was given."

* * *

**Oh, I'm terrible. **

**Another useless "fun" fact about the story? Sure why not:**

**In my original draft, the burn scar on Zero's face reached up to his eye, so I could give him an eye patch. Then I decided that was stupid, but I kept the scar because I'm weird.**


	4. October

**Thanks for the reviews, you guys. They make me very happy. I send all my awkward virtual hugs.**

**Did you see? I drew a cover with my god-awful art skills. I was bored…**

**I feel like it's never a good thing when I post two chapters so close together, but it's summer and I have free time... So for this chapter, it's flashback time (followed by last minute character development/interaction shhh). This chapter is shorter than the others, but the last one was longer, so it evens out (My logic is the best logic). Just a heads up, I'm incredibly mean to poor Warrius. You may hate me, and while I want to go ahead and defend myself, I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just apologize in advance. Anyway, onto the chapter. I apologize for any and all mistakes and hope you…don't hate it.**

* * *

"No."

The young man gave an enraged growl and tightened his hand around my gun's trigger. For a moment, I thought he was really going to shoot me, but then he started laughing. It was the insane, maniacal laughter that I never had gotten accustomed to hearing, especially when it came out of the mouth of someone who couldn't have been older than twenty. Even with the white mask, I could tell he was young. I hated seeing young people with blood lust. It just wasn't right.

_Well now, _the blond grinned, his voice echoing through my head. _You and your friend have made this all very interesting, Warrius._

"Kid, it's one thing if you're going to use my first name, but it's another if you're going to use it without giving me yours."

_I told you already. I'm Master! _He snapped childishly. _And stop talking out loud. I'm not going to hear everything twice._

"Sorry, Kid. I don't feel like playing your game," I shrugged in my restraints. As far as I could tell, I was in some elaborate dining area with obnoxious, red upholstery. He had tied me to a chair at the head of a long table while I was knocked out. At the other end, he pointed my saber at my face, its barrel staring me down. Then again, the visual hypnotism was much harder to shake than the orders he'd tried to give me, so it could have all been a lie.

_Alright then, _he smirked. _Let's play a new game. Hmm, Commander Warrius Zero, you were a good captain, wouldn't you say?_

Oh, this wasn't good. Not only could he read my mind, he could look into my memories. If he wore me down emotionally, I wouldn't have the strength to fight back the brutal walls of his commands. Just ignore him, I told myself. He's trying to take advantage of your emotions. Don't you dare be weak and give in.

_Personally, I don't think it's strange for you to have been the only one not on your ship when it blew up, but that's just me. Of course, it is an odd coincidence. It's no wonder they arrested you._

I kept my expression even and pushed my anger down. I couldn't let him get the better of me.

_Oh, and then you had to be saved by the pirate. That stung, didn't it? I wouldn't blame you if you toyed with the idea of going out by execution, but of course you had to find the men that actually committed the crime, right? You had to make them pay._

No, shut up.

_And you got them. Good for you, _he purred mockingly. _I bet that made you feel so much better, watching them beg and scream in that fire._

I didn't mean to…

_Those men and the women they'd kidnapped, all dead because of you._

"Shut up!"

_Now, now, don't speak to your master that way. In fact, don't speak at all._

Oh… okay. That was stupid of me, wasn't it? Why would I speak to him?

_Good boy, now this is rather simple, so don't screw it up. Listen to Master's orders and follow them exactly as he says to._

* * *

The moment I shot Harlock from behind, I realized that everything was wrong. I didn't shoot people in the back. I wasn't a coward.

He turned and fumbled for his gun as he fell, only to realize I'd taken it to shoot him. He hit the wall with a wince. His hand moved to grasp at his bleeding side, and his face screwed up in a scowl. "So, he got to you, Zero? Come on, are you really going to give up that easy?"

No matter how much my mind fought, my body was going to carry out the orders I'd been given. But, no, if I was going to kill Harlock, it was going to be my own decision. I refused to be a puppet. There had to be something I could do to stop myself from killing him. There had to be…

I had two, very simple orders. I couldn't disobey them, but maybe if I fought with everything I had left, I could carry them out in the wrong order. As I pushed against the wall in my head, I realized, yeah, I could do that. At least, I could do that. I reached desperately through the force of one order to be dragged into the current of the second. I didn't have the strength left to get out of this one.

"Zero," Harlock continued with a small choke. "Fight him, damn it." A line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

It wasn't fair. He always came out on top. Why couldn't I have ever caught a break? He was always so lucky. We had never dueled like we were supposed to. I would have won if we had. I know I would have. I had to at least have won that. Damn, it just wasn't fair.

_Kill him._

No.

_What?_

With a dark smile, I managed to pull the gun back and placed it against my temple. First order: kill Harlock. Second order: kill yourself. As my mind set on the second order, my movements grew so easy.

After all, it was what I wanted to do. Right, Master? If only I could have taken him down with me.

Harlock's eye widened in horror as he realized what was happening. His hand shot out from his bleeding side. It was the last thing I saw while alive.

"Sorry," I smiled as I pulled the trigger. Everything went wonderfully black. I wish it would have stayed that way.

* * *

"You fucking moron," Daiba slurred, looking thoroughly exhausted.

I didn't really feel like getting berated by him for how stupid I'd been, but I guess I deserved it.

"Quit acting like everything was your fault," he growled, irritated. "You're such an idiot. Nothing that happened was your fault."

"W-what?" I hadn't expected that, and I certainly hadn't expected it from Daiba.

"Of course not, you dumbass. How could you have known your ship was sabotaged? How could you have known there were civilians or explosive chemicals in that building? And that you fought through what's-his-face's mind control at all was fucking impressive."

The fact that he was trying to cover up complementing me by cursing and insulting me would have been amusing if I wasn't stunned.

"And," he added harshly. "Your stupid death wasn't cowardly or pointless. By going out the way you did, you saved Harlock. There, now would you pass on and leave me alone already? I'm tired, so get over your past or whatever."

"Daiba," I said at length. "How did you know all that? I barely even started telling you how I died."

"Huh, really? Well, shit. I'm going to sleep." He dragged himself off the floor to collapse onto his bed.

"Hang on, Daiba. I want an explanation. There's something you haven't been telling me, so spit it out," I ordered, grabbing his uncast arm.

His answer was muffled by his bed sheets but easy to understand. "No."

I wasn't in the mood for dealing with his stubbornness. He was almost as bad as Harlock. As a ghost, I didn't have the strength to pick the short kid up, but I had enough to jerk him up just enough by his arm to backhand him square across the face. "Now, if you're feeling awake enough, I'd like my explanation."

"Ow," he murmured dazedly as he worked his jaw. "Jeez, you two could be brothers."

"What?"

"Nothing," he huffed. "There's not much to explain. With you around, I don't get any sleep. Well, I can sleep. I just don't get rest from it."

Great, as if I didn't cause the kid enough trouble already. "I suppose you wouldn't know why this is, would you?"

"No, not really. I see your memories in my dreams, but I never remember them when I wake up. Actually, now that I think about it, the only memories of yours I actually remember are the ones you talk about. I get flashes of some when you think about them, I guess, but then I'll forget them too."

I thought for a minute as he kicked his shoes off and lay down for another restless sleep. I had an idea, an incredibly stupid idea, but an idea. It had been such a long time since I'd slept. Like eating, it had practically become a foreign concept. But with a sigh, I closed my eyes and tried to remember the vague, alluding feel of sleep. I recalled the way the dark could press down on you and how wonderful it could be to finally get some rest after a long shift, the way exhaustion pulled painfully at your eyes. It was a lot like death actually, that calming, cool darkness.

Then my memories and thoughts were gone. Instead I was gazing at the vast expanse stars through a telescope, naming each one for a man, who would pat my head with each correct one. I was listening to the mellow tones of a harmonica and asking the man if I could be taught how to play. I was standing over the man with a hole in his chest and his dull, unseeing eyes. Rage coursed through me. I would kill every last one of those Mazone scum with my bare hands if I had to. I would make them suffer.

Then I woke up, and I hadn't done any of that. I couldn't even grasp what any of it had been.

I opened my eyes to see Daiba sitting on the edge of his bed, staring out the window. "We've landed," he pointed out.

I glanced out at the forest. "So we have. Are you going to venture out?" I couldn't keep the playful smile from curling on my lips as he turned with an annoyed glare.

"I don't know. It seems like every time I leave my room, you ruin something for me."

"I'm pretty sure you'd be dead by now if not for me," I shrugged.

"Yeah right, and what was with not telling me you'd already gotten revenge? I was all worried about solving the mystery of you and your ship, but you'd already sorted that whole mess out," he snapped.

"If you'll recall," I smirked. "You didn't really wait for my input in that conversation. You jumped to your own conclusions there. Remember, I told you from the beginning to just tell Harlock about me."

"Right, what was I supposed to say? 'Hey, Captain, I know you think I might have completely lost it, but the ghost of your dead friend is following me around and making bad jokes.'"

My face cracked into a bright smile. "When did I ever make bad jokes?"

"Oh, don't act like you don't." He rolled his eyes." They're every five minutes with you, something about you being dead or a ghost or death."

"So, you would say all my awful jokes are…killing you?"

"Oh, you are such a fucking dumbass," he groaned dropping his face into his hands, but I could easily see him fighting back a smile. It was about time.

I placed my hand into his hair to ruffle his unruly mane. "Well, looks like I win."

"What? You didn't win anything," he scowled up at me.

"Yes I did. I got you to smile," I grinned in triumph. It was a real, genuinely happy smile too.

"I did not smile," he snapped as though it were a bad thing.

"Yes you did."

"Did not." He was still such a kid.

"Did too." I guess in some ways I was too.

"Did not!"

"You know, if there's someone outside, you sound like a complete moron, arguing with no one."

He slapped his hand over his mouth, eyes wide. "Oh, God," but then he started to snicker. And finally, _finally _he doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "You jerk," he choked out between breaths. "I hate you so much." It was difficult to take him serious behind his bright grin.

"You laugh like a girl," I smirked.

"Go to hell," he said, mirroring my expression.

* * *

**I'm so stupid. Allow me to just go kill myself. Dang it, now I'm doing it. Me and my awful, cheesy writing.**

**Stupid, useless fun fact about my dumb writing? Of course:**

**You'll notice, I never give the "master" a name. At first, this was because I couldn't think of a good one, but then I decided I liked it better that way. I wanted him to be a sort of mirror to what Daiba could become if he was consumed by hate (and somehow gained magic hypnotism powers). Yeah…I'm so deep. He really just became his own character because I love writing psychos. Oh, well. **


	5. Undertow

***Throws chapter down* I'm so sorry! Nothing even happens in this chapter! *Runs***

* * *

I hated feeling stupid, but it seemed like every time I tried to thing logically, I wound up being wrong. Not that I was too upset about finally being allowed some slightly restful sleep. It wasn't exactly a normal rest, but the memories weren't as vivid and I wasn't as tired. So of course, I felt like a complete idiot for not telling Zero about the whole thing sooner, but it was still all his fault.

"By the way," I spoke up as I cleaned my gun, procrastinating the trip outside. "There's something I'm curious about."

"Fire away," he shrugged, leaning back against the wall, his arms crossed.

"How was the captain able to fight back the mind control? I mean, he got through you."

As usual, he smiled in amusement. "What did I tell you about asking me questions over Harlock? Well," he pondered it for a moment. "Fighting back the control took a lot of concentration. Even letting your emotions slip would let him win, like it did with me. Harlock…well, you know him. He's a master of himself. At least from what I've seen. It takes a lot to even crack him. Actually, the masked man attempted to control Harlock before me, but it didn't go over well. Apparently only the visual hypnotism would work for short bursts of time, so he caught me instead. He was pretty upset about the whole thing – got close to killing me even."

"Well, he did pretty much kill you," I pointed out.

"Hmm?" His brows pulled together. "No, I mean physically, with his own hands."

I blinked a few times. "You say that like… Okay, I'm confused."

"Didn't you know?" he frowned. "He never killed anyone by means other than his abilities. He thought it kept his hands clean. The first thing I saw after waking up from being dead was him freaking out because he didn't have a way to kill Harlock. So he just ran like the coward he was. But enough about this," he shook his head.

"Alright, but there's one thing I still don't get," I scowled. "How _are _you a ghost?"

"I like how you think I know the answer to this," he smirked.

"Well you've had plenty of time to figure it out, haven't you? You must have some idea."

His expression sobered again. He laced his fingers behind his head and rolled his eyes up in thought. "Have you ever considered that I'm not an isolated case? That there are millions or even billions of other people who died to become like me?"

I had, but I didn't like to. It wasn't a very comforting thought. "Alright, sure, and everyone is tethered down by what they left unfulfilled, like you with psycho pansy. You wanted to kill him enough that you were stuck with him. _But_, that doesn't explain why I could hear you or why you were stuck with me after killing him. And it's not like he could see or hear you."

"True," he nodded. "I've thought that maybe we shared some sort of odd connection that tied us together, but in all honesty, I gave up on figuring all this out a long time ago. Who knows, maybe there's some god or gods that find it absolutely hilarious to throw my spirit around and see what happens. Maybe there's some insane scientific explanation. Maybe I'm just some sort of imprint of my original self left over from my connection to him and was then transferred to you by that weird connection." Then his smirk reemerged. "Maybe you've actually just lost it, and you're imagining me."

"You know, that's actually my favorite option, because it implies that you don't exist," I muttered.

"You wound me," he mocked. "So how much longer are you going to avoid going outside?"

"I wasn't avoiding it," I snapped, getting to my feet.

"Sure you weren't." He moved to follow me and ruffled my hair with a grin.

"Alright, but I have one more question," I huffed.

"What's that?"

"Why are you so damn happy all the time?"

"Well," he shrugged. "Why are you so irritable all the time?"

"Because I'm stuck with you," I grumbled.

He smiled in a way that showed he obviously didn't believe me. "Think about it this way, Kid. I've lost absolutely everything possible. I don't have anything left, so what good is sulking going to do me? I guess I just realized that there's no use feeling sorry for myself. I think it's better to just laugh at everything than to be angry all the time. Besides, like I said before, I might just be completely insane. Either way, you need to stop being so serious. You're still so young, so why don't you try to enjoy life a little more?"

"I won't have a life if I take it easy and let the Mazone wipe us out," I muttered, but he just shook his head.

"That doesn't mean you can't stop and smell the roses every once in a while. God, I sound like Harlock, don't I?"

"No," I frowned. Were we talking about the same Harlock?

"Never mind," he laughed. "It has been a long time. Anyway, come on, I thought we were going outside."

"Yeah-yeah, I was gonna." I had been hoping to stall him some more, but now he was expecting it, so I headed for the door and unlocked it. As it slid open, I imagined a thousand eyes were going to pierce me. Surely everyone knew about my insane freak out the night before and was just waiting to drag me away to an interrogation room. Hell, they probably had a straight jacket ready for me.

"Daiba," Zero called curiously. "Are we going to go out?"

I realized I'd been standing there, staring wide-eyed at the empty wall. The halls were void of anyone. The hum of the ship dulled in standby was the only noise echoing around me. "Oh," I huffed dryly. "They're probably out at some bar."

"We should go join them," he suggested jubilantly. Apparently he didn't understand the whole "avoiding people who thought I was insane."

"You must have been some drunk," I muttered, heading out down the hall.

"Harlock and I had a drinking contest once," he mused. "The bar ran out of bourbon, and everyone fell asleep or got drunk before us, so no one was ever sure who won. I still say it was me."

"Yeah, well the guys have a rule called 'Don't Let Daiba Drink' which involves me only being allowed milk in bars." Assholes, that's what they were.

"Can't hold your alcohol, eh? Not that you should be drinking really. Terrible habit, but I'm not one who can preach that lesson fairly, and I'm sure Harlock has his whole 'you're not a real man if you don't drink' spiel. Then again, he probably makes an exception for milk."

"What are you rambling about?"

"Oh nothing."

"Daiba," A bell-like voice rang out behind us. My spine straightened and froze. Zero raised a brow, turning halfway.

"Ah, Miime," he greeted as though she could hear him.

"Who are you talking to, Daiba?" she asked.

"U-uh, myself," I managed, twitching my body to turn toward her. Her head was tilted lightly to the side. I swore those pupilless, yellow eyes were shining with amusement.

Zero sighed heavily. "Are you still trying to lie your way out of this? Just tell the truth. I swear it's easier."

Her voice drowned him out. "Oh, do you often discuss things with yourself? But you only seem to say one side if the conversation. What is the other part of you that answers? Your mind?"

"Uh…I guess."

"So you're hearing voices then?"

God damn it. "I guess you could say that." I shifted uneasily between my feet.

"That's quite nice," she cooed. "It's always good to have a companion."

"You'd think," I grumbled as Zero smiled down at me. "But the voice in my head is a bit obnoxious."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, it's always making fun of me, and it doesn't ever shut up. Always voicing its stupid opinion on everything." It seemed, of all the people I could tell this to, Miime would find it the least strange. After all, she wasn't really a person.

"Oh? What does it think of me?" she giggled.

Zero smiled knowingly. "Tell her that she's looking quite lovely today and ask if she wouldn't mind sharing some wine."

I hesitated, tired of his desire for alcohol. "Well, it said you look lovely today and asked if you'd share some wine, but I don't want any wine, alright?"

Her eyes warmed, pooling in a soft sadness. "I'd be happy to share some wine with him," she murmured.

I glanced between them, not sure where Miime's eyes were settled, though they seemed to be on the invisible former-captain. Zero smiled warmly at her. "I'll never understand her," he said.

What was even going on? "Was she like your girlfriend, or…?"

They both looked rather startled. Zero sighed, shaking his head. "Heavens, no, Kid."

"Of course not," Miime laughed brightly. "You jump to the most entertaining conclusions, Daiba."

I frowned. "You don't think it's weird that there's a dead guy's voice in my head?"

"It most certainly is strange, and yet, stranger things have happened, especially aboard this ship. Fate is tricky. It seems to quite enjoy playing with both you and Mr. Zero." She turned, her dress and hair spinning in flowing arcs. "Make sure you come back and have a drink with me some time, Mr. Zero," she called as she walked away. "You owe me one. You promised! The next round is on you!"

He placed his hand on my shoulder, and for just a moment, I felt my conscious shoved aside. This time, I was too terrified to go through the torture of fragmented memories. I was tempted to cower down in my own mind as I had last time. It seemed more natural and safe. I would remain within myself, crushed by his conscious over mine, but there was a way out, so I let go.

The moment I had, I regretted it. It was cold and empty, maddeningly weightless. There was nothing to grasp in the darkness. Then I realized my eyes were closed. I opened them, and stared at myself. Was I…out of my own body? "Aye!" this other me called, an unnatural smirk on my face. "The next round's mine!"

I stared down at my own self, clenched my hands a few times. Everything seemed to be in working order. I was…confused to say the least. The me that looked like me blinked a few times in confusion as well before it turned toward me with a curious smile. "I honestly didn't mean to take over you again," the other me said. "But you weren't supposed to let me take over completely. Hm, I would have never thought we could change places."

My jaw unhinged. Zero! "So wait…I'm the ghost now!?"

"Yep," he nodded. "The only reason your feet are planted on that floor right now is because you imagine that it has that physical property. You could sink through it or float if you wanted to."

I placed a hand to the wall. For a moment it remained solid, though it wasn't cold as usual. Then I watched my hand begin to sink though the metal. No, absolutely not. "Damnit!" I snapped in slight desperation. "Give me my body back!"

He laughed brightly, though it was my voice and still his laugh. "I'd love to. I don't know how you get around with this. I'm so close to the ground." He pushed up to his tip-toes. "Mmm, nope, still short."

"Shut up! I'm still growing."

"I don't think you're going to do that much more at this rate…"

I shot out a fist toward my own face. As soon as it connected, I was falling back into my own mind. Zero faded away, leaving me spiraling to the ground as I regained my body. I'd…hit myself.

"Well, good to know that's an option," Zero smiled, dragging me back to my feet.

"No! Because now you're going to screw around even more!" I screeched, feeling a fresh bruise blossom across my jaw.

"Don't count on it. I was really thinking it would be more for emergencies, because, let's face it, you're terrible at dealing with them."

"I am not!"

"You're also so short." He patted my head a few times, frowning. "It would be hard to use a saber because you've got no range with your arms."

"Take over me again and this time let me actually punch you!"

* * *

It took another twenty minutes before the kid had calmed down enough to stop threatening to kill me while I was in his body, though I still wasn't sure he completely understood that doing so would actually cause him to die as well. And here I'd thought I'd finally gotten him to like me.

He was still fairly irritated with me as we finally made it outside of the ship. I smiled at the planet's sun, which I couldn't really feel. I imagined it must have been warm though, because Daiba was soon panting and tugging at his ridiculous uniform. I trailed at his heels, watching him curse at gnats buzzing in his ears. The trees loomed over us, and he scowled at them as well. He really did do too much frowning. He was going to get worry lines like Harlock and I had at a young age.

The humidity caused his boots to sink into the tired, heavy ground. He trudged along, muttering under his breath. "Why in the hell did we stop in this god forsaken jungle? We could have gotten just a bit closer."

"I think it's more of a forest," I noted. "These aren't tropical trees."

"We're on an alien planet. It doesn't matter."

"I suppose not. You don't seem particularly fond of plant life."

"Gee," he huffed sarcastically. "I wonder why that is?"

"But these are just trees. They don't appear to be shaped like any sort of women."

"That's what you think until they start turning into women and attacking you." He placed his hand to his gun and glanced around as he said this. "Hell, I'm not even sure this is the right way."

"It is," I nodded. "I've seen a number of footprints headed this direction. It seems to be clearing up as well."

"Yeah, but I don't know what were going to do when we get…wherever it is we're going."

"I suppose we'll see when we get there," I smiled.

"Onward to adventure then?" he snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, yes, to adventure!"

"You're so dumb," he grinned.

"I think we both are." I ruffled his hair as he yelled that he'd just gotten it back into place. I couldn't imagine there'd been any "place" to his hair. It was just a mess at all times. He needed a haircut. I would have told him so, but we finally dragged out of the edge of the trees.

"It appears the ship is scheduled to be resupplied," I said upon seeing the quaint town. "Or perhaps they're visiting someone."

"I don't care what's happening as long as I get breakfast," he grumbled.

I trailed beside him as he made his way to a small diner of sorts. I couldn't help but sigh slightly when he passed the noisy bar. That was certainly where everyone else had gone.

Before we stepped inside, he pulled up his shirt to sniff the fabric. "Do I smell bad?" he asked.

"Probably, but I'm sure they're used to it."

He shrugged in agreement and made his way inside, breathing a sigh of relief at the humming air conditioner.

The stewardess wrinkled her nose slightly. "Hun," she nodded toward his gun. "You'll have to keep that by the door. We don't allow weapons inside."

In fact, a large variety of guns had been placed by the door. Some in holsters were hung on what appeared to be a coat rack. I couldn't help but admire a saber that had been placed there. Lovely craftsmanship on the handle and a gold trailing up the blade. Only a few dings of wear marred the silver piece. Daiba glowered as he hung his Cosmo Dragoon up before dragging me away from my infatuation with the other weapon.

He was seated at a small table and was kind enough to subtly pull the other chair out enough so that I could sit as well. Or at least pretend to. He ordered himself milk and an omelet, shooting down my request for alcohol once more with a quick glare.

We had to mostly sit in silence as we'd grown accustomed to. Occasionally I'd note something about the drunk men in the corner or the ketchup on his cheek, and he'd snicker quietly or quickly wipe at his face. However.

"Trouble," I frowned, eyeing the drunk men ambling over toward us. He wasn't even halfway through his meal, and he sighed down at it.

"Hey, kid," one greeted, a burly young man whose words didn't slur though were heavily accented. He seemed to only be buzzed, probably due to his size.

"Yes?" Daiba shot back lazily.

"You with them pirates?"

The kid glanced down at the large Jolly Rodger across his chest with a frown. During my time with the Independents, I'd more than once done the same thing after being lured into a trap and interrogated over Harlock's whereabouts. They never believed that I honestly didn't keep track of that after we'd parted ways. That damn pirate captain never ceased to cause me trouble.

Daiba threw an unamused glare up to them that showed he obviously thought they were idiots for asking such a question.

"So," the leader frowned, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "That crew a' yours – think they'd be upset if somethin' were ta happen to ya?"

"Probably not," the kid drawled. "Let me guess. You want to hold me hostage for money, right? I'll go ahead and tell you that we really don't have any." He slammed his payment down on the table, about enough to pay for three meals, but not much. "That's all I've got, so would you kindly fuck off and let me eat?"

"But if you're a pirate, ain't you got a wanted poster? You gotta be worth somethin'."

"Nope," Daiba huffed, popping another bite into his mouth.

"I don't like your attitude, boy. Even if you ain't worth anything, one a you has gotta be."

"Hun," the stewardess frowned. "Please don't start anything. I just cleaned up."

The man's demeanor changed to that of a kindly gentleman as he turned toward her. "Nah, dear, I'll be usin' this cash to get you a pretty ring. How 'bout that?"

Her eyes sparkled. "Really?"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Daiba grumbled.

"So why don't you go fetch me my gun?" the man grinned winningly.

She nodded and ran to the weapons.

"Looks like we're not getting out of this so easily, eh kid?" I frowned. "You want me to take them?

"Nah, I can handle a few dumb thugs." He stood, gazing evenly at their confused stares.

The stewardess ran back with the saber and two guns clenched in her arms. I couldn't help but smile. "Don't kill them alright."

"Yeah, I'll just rough 'em up a bit." The men were now thoroughly disturbed by Daiba's conversation with the air.

"And Kid."

"What?"

"Get that saber for me, would you?"

"No problem."

* * *

**They're just the biggest dorks. **

**Ahh, so yeah, hopefully I'll actually finish this fic and then get around to posting all the little drabbles I've been writing. You see, I've learned that I'm terrible at finishing long fics because I get distracted easily. And I felt like I couldn't post anything else until I finished this. Also, my family found my fan fic page and that made me a bit squeamish...**


	6. Arabesque

**Such a tiny chapter where almost nothing happens... Getting there though. Almost to the end! I may be completely out of canon at this point, because I'm getting SPCH and SSX mixed up. Whoops, sorry. Need to rewatch the original :/ **

* * *

He started out fighting valiantly. He rolled toward the leader, kicking the man's legs out from beneath him. His grab for the saber was much too obvious and early and greatly impeded by that damn cast. I cocked an eyebrow, realizing he probably didn't have much hand-to-hand combat experience. Kid was going to get himself killed if he didn't shape up quick.

He narrowly avoided the elbow that could have shattered his nose and jumped back, grabbing the table to throw down as a barrier. I didn't bother to uncross my legs as the object passed through them.

He pressed his back to the plastic with a snarl. A blast pierced right above his shoulder. "Kid," I frowned. "That cover's useless. You sure you can handle this?"

"Shut up! I've got this!" he spat. His three attackers were startled enough by his shout that his sudden leap over his cover caused them to hesitate. The kid might have been too thin to have any proper muscle, but I had to give him credit for his speed and flexibility. He was a slippery little brat.

He kicked the thinner of the two flunkies' knee, sending the man to the ground with a pained cry. Again he grabbed for a weapon. "No," I called with a sigh. "You're out in the open."

He realized his mistake as the saber was placed to the nape of his neck. He froze, a nervous laugh bubbling in his throat. "He got up fast."

"You put you back to him," I scolded. "It doesn't matter how fast he got up. Don't put your back to an enemy. Always keep him in sight. That shouldn't be something you need to be told."

He was a bit too concerned with the cold metal against his spine to scowl properly at me. "I know-I know," he snapped, his voice wavering slightly.

"Boy…" the leader frowned, disturbed. "Your head alright?"

Daiba grumbled something inaudible.

"Huh?" the leader said.

"I need some help, asshat!" the kid barked, glaring my way.

I didn't bother to suppress a grin as I hopped to my feet. "At your service," I nodded.

"I think he's calling for back-up," the flunky not sobbing over his kneecap muttered suspiciously.

"The bar's down the street. Ain't no other pirates here."

They both blinked in sudden shock as their prey was yanked to the side by an invisible force. Daiba gave a surprised yelp at my tug on his arm. I wasn't exactly sure how to control the exchange that would cause us to change places, so this was really more of a game of chance than anything. Luckily, perhaps because I had something I wanted to do in his stead, I found myself looking through his eyes. With my opponents nicely distracted, I kicked the weapon from the leader's hand.

Once more I'd misjudged my size, clipping him with the light boot, but it must have hurt enough for him to let go. I grinned excitedly, catching the blade with my left hand and twirling it up into a spin to grab the handle. The kid's fingers might have been thin enough to snap like twigs, but he was certainly dexterous. It was a good thing I'd practiced enough to be useful with my left hand, though it was a game of skill trying to use his.

I sliced a neat cut across the leader's shirt, not deep enough to actually pierce skin. By this point, both his flunkies had regained their weapons, and I was forced to dive into a roll, shooting the gun from one's hand as I went. Spinning the blade around once more, I hit the disarmed man roughly on the temple with the sliver handle. He crumpled to the floor.

The other two spat curses, the leader lunging for me. I could have easily stabbed him through the chest, but I kneed him in the jaw instead. His eyes spun with the stars filling his vision. Using him as a partial shield, I shot the gun from the last man's hand. He stood frozen against the tip of my blade as I was finally allowed to completely regain my feet.

A small squeak sounded a distance to my left just before a shot rang out. I jumped back, feeling the burn of a blast cut across my upper arm. The light green fabric began to stain with the kid's blood. Well damn.

The stewardess looked startled by the gun in her hands – Daiba's gun. The bite the thing had given her may have deflected the shot enough to save me. I praised my rare luck.

Though my arm stung against the action, I raised the blade toward her. "Excuse me, miss," I frowned, "may I have my gun back?"

I was surprised not to hear any objection from the kid due to saying the gun was mine. The terrified woman nodded in a quick flurry, throwing the gun my way. Any pride I may have had was lost as the weapon flew in an uneven arc, and slammed into the hand I'd shot out to catch it. I really needed to stop forgetting about that damn cast.

The injured bones rattled against the hard weight of the gun, rockets of pain shooting up my arm. I'd never grown to particularly miss pain of all things. After getting to spend weeks in a hospital bed, every slight movement sending waves of agony out from the burns across my left side, I thought I'd had quite enough of the feeling. The gun clattered harmlessly to the floor as I winced against my hand.

Seeing this as an opportunity, the remaining flunky lunged for his gun. "No," I sighed. "Stop that. I'm not in the mood." I caught the edge of his shirt with the tip of my blade and hoisted him up as much as my straw arms could manage. Unfortunately, it wasn't far. I was only able to get him about up to my waist before I had to give up and tossed him a small distance away. "Kid," I frowned. "I need to teach you how to bench."

His voice reached me in an uneven whisper, sounding distant and tired. My eyes widened in horror as I turned to find him sitting slouched against the wall, his small form fading, slowly turning transparent. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to tear his soul away from him.

Racing to his side, I tried in vain to grab for a hand or shoulder, yet I could only slip through. I didn't want this. I didn't want to live while he vanished as I should have.

I didn't care if I looked insane. It wasn't my form that appeared to be losing it anyway. "Kid!" I barked. "Don't give into this! Get back here!"

His eyelids fluttered, fighting to stay open. "Tired," he whispered.

That wasn't fair. I'd never felt tired. Why should he be allowed to cross over when I couldn't? I really didn't have anything left. There wasn't anything I wanted. Or was that it? Was that the sick joke? The ones that were content with death had to stay while the ones that weren't had to die? Fate surely did laugh at me.

"Kid!" I yelled desperately. "If you don't wake up, I'm going to go order a bourbon!"

He wheezed a soft laugh, managing a faltering smirk. His hand raised, shaking violently. I could see every detail of the wall through him. "You'd better n-not." His voice was as transparent as him, as soft as a gentle wind.

His hand curled into some fragment of a fist and could only be raised enough to reach my shoulder, but as soon as he tapped it, I tore my soul away, feeling him fall back in place behind me.

"Don't scare me like that, kid," I twittered as soon as I was back to my own self.

He crumpled, his eyes heavy. "Don't know…don't know what happened," he slurred. "Thought I heard…voices. They said…'sleep'. Wanted to…see them…again…"

Jealousy continued to stab at me. Why couldn't I hear anyone? I wanted to hear them. I wanted to see them. But perhaps they didn't want me. It always had been my fault. If I'd reacted faster. If I'd done something. If I'd done more thorough scans. If I hadn't ordered them all back to the ship.

The sharp jangling of spurs neared us. "Daiba," Harlock greeted. I hadn't been paying attention, and I could only guess how much he'd seen, but it was obvious that his presence in the diner had helped us to avoid any other conflicts. Everyone had cleared out at some point. I wondered where his crew was idling.

The captain knelt at hew crewman's side across from me. The kid's eyes were unfocused as Harlock rolled him over to his back. "Captain," the boy sighed. "Do you think…I'm crazy?"

"I've thought you were a bit off from the first moment I met you," Harlock smiled lightly.

Daiba furrowed his brow, staring unevenly at the ceiling.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Harlock offered.

I imagined all the ways I could have answered if he'd asked me that very question. I could have apologized again, shattered what was left of my pride. I could have told him he'd won. He'd beaten me.

And yet, he hadn't.

"You're…" Daiba fought in vain against unconscious. "You…a-are going…to have…that duel."

He really needed to cut it out with the mind reading, especially if he was going to be such an idiot about it. "Kid," I sighed. "That's too dangerous. I don't think you'll come back a second time."

"Shut...up," he hissed, making Harlock close his mouth before he could begin to speak. The captain cocked an amused brow. "Won't…screw up…again." He finally slipped out of conscious, dozing softly.

Damn stubborn moron.

"Zero?" Harlock frowned, glancing around with his lone eye. It passed over me just as it did everything else.

"Aye, Captain," I smiled through my growing weariness. "I'm here."

He let out a deep sigh, finally giving up on finding a trace of me. Though it did hollow my chest, it was probably for the best that he hadn't heard. The one thing I'd never admitted was that he had been my captain, because I had fought that fact to the bitter end.

* * *

I would have proudly considered Zero to be a pirate. He lived on my ship. He mapped out impressive strategies. We ate together and drank together and argued like children over every little thing. It would have been an honor to call him a brother in arms.

However, it would have crushed him. He still held desperately onto that remnant of his past. He was an Independent, and he dragged that mangled pride around with him like a broken, useless arm. My skull and crossbones were hot coals to him, scalding what little pride he had left. He loathed even seeing them, and I would never have suggested that he wear them.

Most of the time, he was quiet. The gentle song he whistled on the bridge was sometimes all we heard from him for days. He talked when it was needed unless I got a few drinks in him. Generally, a few meant a couple of bottles of something stiff. He was a bit of an unpredictable drunk. Usually it was impossible to even tell that he was drunk, but I learned to see it.

He would sometimes fly off the handle, hissing death threats in an uncontrolled rage. Other times he would fall into a fit of sighs, muttering his regrets in a melancholic daze. It was quite the challenge to get him into his 'happy drunk' stage, though I did manage it during our big drinking contest.

Everyone had fallen asleep, snoring drunkenly while we laughed over something that honestly didn't make sense the next morning.

I wasn't sure what caused him to bring it up so suddenly or why he grinned so much as he said it, but it was something he'd say. It seemed natural coming from him. "Harlock," he slurred, throwing an arm around my neck and half-strangling me. "You're going to kill me, you got that?" He knocked back another drink as I struggled to keep up. I wasn't going to let him best me in this fight or any other.

Once I'd managed to nearly spill the whiskey all over myself, his words finally registered. "Right now?" I frowned.

"No, kid." He ruffled my hair as he did all too often. I'd guessed it was a show for dominance. He was technically older after all. "But that's how I'm going to die. You're going to kill me."

"Of course," I snorted. "It'll be easy."

"You ass," he huffed, shoving my head down against the bar. "Stupid little brat kid."

"I'm not that much younger than you," I growled, my cheek squished against the wooden counter.

"Yeah, but you're still a brat."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Yeah, well this brat's going to kill you!"

"Is that a promise?"

"Of course it is, old man."

"Good," he grinned, sitting back in triumph. "I'm looking forward to it."

I never was sure who won the drinking contest. It seemed so important at the time. We argued about it for days, each insisting that we'd been the last one standing. Even though I didn't remember much after promising I'd kill him, I was certain there was no way he could have beaten me. It seemed so important.

Then, the moment the realization sunk in that he was going to pull that trigger, it seemed so childish. In that instant, what was important was what I'd promised him. I'd sworn it would be me that finally ended it for him. Because it wasn't just some joke to him, something he could grin about as he called me names. It was one of those things he had left to hold onto. He'd made me promise because it meant that I still saw him as an equal, as that captain of the Independents that I had so much respect for whether I would admit it or not.

I'd lied to him. I hadn't fulfilled my promise, and as I'd stared at that clean shot through his temple, I'd hated myself for it.

My crew came and collected me, patched me up and tried to find traces of the new person I'd vowed to kill. We wanted to bury Zero on Earth. We tried, but it just wasn't an option at that point. We took his flag, the last flag of the Independent Fleet that I knew of, and we folded it in the proper style for a fallen soldier. It never quite seemed right for us to do it. The stars were his grave, that once-proud flag tucked under his arm.

His will couldn't have been simpler, placed in the cabinet where he'd kept all the things he didn't want to look at.

_Divide up my assets as you see fit. I have no use for them anymore._

_Signed, Warrius Zero_

He hadn't bothered with witnesses or proper format. It was the one thing he hadn't been proper with, because there were few things to give and few people to give them to.

It was always wrong to me, a mistake I'd made that had cost a man so much. "Sorry," he'd said when it should have been me apologizing. But there was no way to fix it. No way to fix death. At least, there shouldn't have been. I'd been having my doubts as of late.

* * *

**I'm just gonna go curl up in a corner and pretend I can actually write in-character. Harlock, who said you could be a narrator? I don't remember planning that in the draft.**


	7. Fire Dance

**In which the boys argue and Zero acts weird. He does that a lot. Next chapter should be the last one!**

* * *

It felt like I'd been sleeping for weeks. I was so heavy, my limbs weighted. Movement seemed impossible, but as usual, I knew I was in the infirmary. It was practically my room now. That didn't mean Zero wasn't in trouble for getting me stuck in here again.

"Finally up, Daiba?" he asked as if on cue. His question was punctuated by a blast that made the ship groan and shudder around us.

"Under attack again?" I mumbled, dragging myself up to sit.

"Harlock seems popular among those Mazone," Zero frowned. He was seated on the side of my bed, not looking particularly concerned about the attack. "Your cast is off by the way. Had to get stitches though."

"Stitches?" My eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Don't remember?" He gestured to my arm. I realized a bit late that I was missing a shirt, and bandages had been wrapped around my upper arm. "You've been out for about three days. Really freaked the doctor out. He was upset because you seemed to be sleeping for no reason. I'm not entirely sure what all those injections were but…" He was obviously trying to hide a grin.

"If I wake up in the infirmary one more time because of you!" I snapped.

"What'll you do, kid?" he smirked.

"I don't know but it'll be painful!"

"For you probably."

Well...he was probably right. At a loss for a comeback, I just glared at him. His smirk widened, and he patted my head a few times.

"Cut it out!" I hissed, waving his hand away. "I'm not a little kid. Stop treating me like one." I felt like I'd told him that so many times. Why didn't he get the picture?

"That's cute, kid. I'll stop treating you like one when you stop acting like one."

It didn't matter if he was just kidding around anymore. It wasn't funny. I was not a kid. I didn't act like a kid! I'd done a hell of a lot more than most of the lazy bastards twice my age. "Kids don't fight in wars," I spat.

"That's not true," he sighed. Another blast rocked the ship, reminding me of what was going on, but he took little notice. "Your captain might tell you that war will make a man out of you, but that doesn't mean you're not just a kid trying to lug around a rifle and boots that are too big for your feet. No matter how much you deny it, you're still a boy, and I've seen boys and girls much smaller than you dragged into a fight that they didn't deserve any part in. Wars are for the old men that start them, but we always make the children fight them for us."

"I'm not a kid," I insisted, though some of what he said made sense.

"Why not?" he smiled tiredly. "Be a kid while you can. It's fun. Get some enjoyment out of life. You don't want to end up like me."

I didn't but… "There are things I need to do. I don't have time to be a kid." I clenched my now-uncast hand into a fist. It seemed to work just fine. "I have to be a man now."

His smile was gone. "You're not a man just because you've taken a life. If anything, I'd say that makes you less of one."

"You're just saying that because you're dead."

"No," he frowned sternly. "I've always believed that. How many people have you killed? Do you know?"

What the hell was he talking about? "Including that psychopath or-?" I began snidely only for him to cut me off.

"No, you had no part in that, but including the Mazone."

"The Mazone aren't people," I spat. The ship took another hit as my rage came to a boil. This must have been a bad fight.

"Oh really?" he snapped. "They're intelligent beings, are they not? From everything you've told me, I'd say the only difference between you and them is the color of your skin. So one of them killed your father, but how many mothers have you killed? How many sisters? How many do you think have taken up a gun vowing to wipe out all the humans in revenge?"

"That's not…" He didn't know anything. Not a damn thing. "You think they're human, but they're really just murderers. They don't care. They don't even have familial bonds… I don't think." I forced a laugh through my uncertainty. "Hell, they're just plants."

He sighed irritably, and roughly messed my hair. "I can't tell you that revenge won't make you happy, because it sure feels satisfying at first. I'm no role model. I've vowed revenge plenty of times. I know how much it will eat at you, how much you feel you need it. But listen to me."

I peered up at him between my mess of bangs. Sadness touched his irritation. "Killing them isn't going to bring your father back. No matter how many lives you take, you can't regain one. Revenge will never bring you the fulfillment you think it will. It may bring Harlock satisfaction, but he's different. You're not like him, no matter how much you wish you were, so make certain you have something else in mind that you know will keep you happy once this is all over."

Maybe revenge was what I needed. Maybe he didn't know what he was talking about, and no one ever said I wanted to be like the captain. "You…you talk too much," I huffed. The fight seemed to have quieted down around us.

"I know," he smiled. "When I was a captain, I was once referred to as 'that obnoxious yapping dog that probably knows where Harlock is.' I think that's your title now."

"Oh ha-ha," I grumbled. "What do you mean 'probably knows where Harlock is?'"

"His enemies always assumed that I knew his whereabouts because we were…'friends.' Same went for the earth government when-"

"I got it!" I yelled as a flash of a memory swam through my head. I shuddered, trying to rid myself of it. "God, stop thinking about things. I can only take it up until you get to the torture. This conversation needs to be over."

He just laughed. "Oh, come on, kid. The earth government doesn't torture. It 'interrogates.'"

"Well they're just lying assholes. That's what they are," I huffed, puffing my cheeks.

"I'll agree with you there," he grinned. "But I do appreciate that you're trying to help them."

"No one said I was trying to help them," I frowned.

"I'm still grateful that you'd protect the Earth after what it's done to you, even if it's just for revenge. That was my home, and I'd hate to see anything happen to it."

"Yeah whatever," I waved the conversation away. "About you and your duel fetish-"

"Please don't call it that."

"-your duel obsession – how do you want to set that up? I mean, how do duels even work?"

He stared at me blankly for a moment, seemingly waiting for a joke. "You were a very sheltered child, weren't you? Did you ever see any old western movies growing up?"

"No, I'm not old like you."

As usual, he smiled at the insult. "I'm going to ignore that. Basically, now that we've got a saber, all we need to do is to set up a time and place. Likely the next planet we stop at will do. If you're really confident you won't try and disappear on me again, I'll just use you to cut Harlock down."

Whoa, hang on. I shook my head frantically. "You're going to kill him!?"

He raised a brow, trying not to smile. "That's the idea, yes. What did you think was going to happen?"

"Well, _if _you could beat him, you'd stop before the whole killing part." I really doubted that Zero could be near as skilled with a saber as the captain, but if he somehow was, that meant that captain would die at my hands. Or the captain would kill me!

"If?" He pouted slightly. "The only reason I wouldn't be able to beat him would be due to your stubby arms."

"But you don't need to kill him!" I insisted. My arms weren't stubby.

"It would be a sin not to, a dishonor to him and myself. See this is one of those things 'real men' understand."

"I think it's just stupid," I scowled. "And I really don't want to get killed when Harlock beats you."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd hold back for you. Then again, you have been causing a lot of trouble lately. I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to take out a little stress on you." He exaggerated his words to show he was kidding. I threw him a dry glare for his efforts.

"You're an idiot," I drawled.

"Ah, but I'm you're favorite idiot."

"No."

"You know it's true."

"No it's not."

"Who's your favorite then?"

"I don't have-"

"Then that leaves it to be me."

"God, if I were Harlock, I'd kill me too. You're so annoying!"

He barked a laugh, hooking my arm around his neck. "You know I do it just for you, kid. It's too much fun not to. Everyone else used to complain that I brooded too much."

"Let go of me or I'll-!" I was about to deliver a threat so deadly that it surely would have scared him, but the door slid open, and the venom was lost in my throat. "Hey," I greeted slowly, "Kei."

Maybe if I acted normal she wouldn't notice anything.

* * *

He stared wide-eyed at Miss Kei. He'd gone a ghostly pale in his terror, though at this point I would have figured he'd gotten over this whole mess. I released his stiff neck with a sigh. "I don't think you could be more conspicuous if you tried, kid."

"Hi, Daiba," she greeted, forcing an uncertain smile. "H-how've you been?"

"Fine," he nodded slowly.

"The captain says you're not crazy," she nodded in return, her eyes flicking around the room to avoid him. "But he wouldn't say what was going on."

"You don't have to sound so unsure of yourself," the kid muttered. "Did you really think I was crazy?"

She chewed her lip. "Oh, I don't know. I was just worried. I'm still worried. You're not making any sense. You're talking to yourself and hurting yourself and sleeping for days on end. The captain won't tell me what's going on. What is it, Daiba? Are you really okay?"

Her motherly affections tugged at my chest. What was this girl doing on this ship? She seemed to be the one running everything most of the time, and she was still patient enough to deal with the kid. Marina would have gotten along well with this one. They probably could have exchanged stories about how they kept their captains in line and the ships in working order.

"Hey, kid," I called as he searched the ground for an answer. "Let me talk to her."

He answered by furrowing his brow, half in annoyance and half in curiosity.

"We'll call it a test run to see if you can handle being a ghost again," I prodded. "Don't worry, I won't do anything crazy. I'm not trying to freak her out more."

He breathed a sigh of acceptance, and I placed my hand to his shoulder. "Don't do anything stupid," he growled as he appeared in my place. I smiled up at Miss Kei and stood.

"Don't worry too much," I said, stepping up toward her "You're going to make yourself sick like that."

She immediately sensed something off, eyeing me with a frown. "I wouldn't have to worry if you didn't give me things to worry about."

"I'm honestly sorry about that," I laughed. "I know it's a bad habit of mine." I wasn't trying to speak for him. I was responding as myself, but it fit him just as well in this case.

"It's a terrible habit," she huffed, taking an uncertain step back as I neared her.

"Hey," the kid warned behind me. "What are you doing?" I didn't bother to answer. I was just happy that he wasn't trying to fade away on me again.

I offered her my hand along with a bow. "You just need to relax a bit. I promise everything's fine."

"You're not acting fine," she frowned, tentatively placing her hand in mine.

A light tug was all it took to pull her toward me. My free hand settled on her waist as I gave a spin. "Who's to say we need to act fine?" I grinned. Her steps stumbled behind mine. She obviously had no previous experience with the waltz. Luckily, I did.

"W-what are you doing, Daiba?" she stuttered. The kid yelled a similar question, only with a few more colorful words involved. I caught a glance of him and couldn't help but grin at the cherry-red of his face.

"You're supposed to put your hand on my shoulder," I noted to Kei. "Even though I'm shorter, I am leading after all."

In her state of shock and confusion, she did as she was told. Her steps began to work with mine a bit better.

"Sorry I don't have any music," I smiled. "I just figured you needed some cheering-up."

She giggled brightly as I gave her a twirl. "You're not Daiba," she said once we'd returned to form, her nose wrinkling with her grin.

I laughed in agreement. She'd hit the mark and she didn't even realize it. "I know," I said. "I'm better."

"Hey," the kid grumbled.

"You're not going to tell me what's going on, are you?" she sighed through a tired smile.

Her feet moved smoothly now, stepping just out of the way of mine. "You don't need to worry about it," I answered softly. "Everything's fine, so just enjoy yourself for a bit. You deserve it. You know, you're quite the dancer. I'm impressed."

"You're a creep," Daiba called as I dipped my dance partner. He always had to take things the wrong way.

A blush dusted Kei's cheeks as she laughed again, breaking away to hide her face in her hands. "Oh, stop that," she giggled playfully. "I have to go check some things. We can dance some more later. Ah, no! I mean-" She rushed out, giggling and trying to hide her startling blush.

"Guess I'll have to teach you how to waltz, kid," I grinned over my shoulder.

"I didn't know you were such a creep," he scowled.

I stepped up to him, poking his cheek to make sure he was solid. Then I placed a firm smack to the backside of his head. "I'm not a creep. I just know how to treat ladies. She was obviously upset, and I just wanted to calm her down and cheer her up. Now then, hear anymore voices?"

"Huh?" he frowned, confusion splayed across his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "Just yours."

"Do you not remember that either?" I asked curiously. "When you started fading?"

"I got distracted and floated off," he shrugged. "What voices are you talking about? I think you're the one losing it now."

"…never mind," I murmured. Maybe it was best not to talk about that. There were certain things I'd decided that humans weren't supposed to know. Certain things about death and what came with it. For the longest time, I'd thought I was one of those things.

"Hm," he brushed it off. "I better get back to my room before anyone else shows up. Here, switch with me."

"Alright. Not going to wait on the doctor?"

"Oh hell no. Keep him away from me."

Amusingly, he was caught by the doctor before he could escape, but after a quick check-up, he was released. I wondered what Harlock had told the man. Unlike Kei, Dr. Zero had dealt with me plenty. The old doctor and I had an interesting time trying to keep our names straight. I'd shared drinks with him. But he didn't act as though he knew anything while he examined the kid. I was used to be ignored and forgotten at this point. It didn't bother me.

It wasn't until he'd made it to his room and changed that we realized we were landing again. "Already?" he frowned.

"That sounded like an ugly battle. Maybe the ship needs some repairs."

He eyed me, probably remembering that the duel would take place next time we landed. "Anything in particular I should have or wear?" he asked after a moment.

I nodded to the saber in the corner. Harlock must have put it there. "That's all."

He paused. "Do you…want to kill him?"

"It's not a question of if I want to. I'll do it because I have to." Because if I tried to decide if it was something I wanted to do, it might make my hand hesitate at an opportunity to do so.

* * *

**I'm not too sure what I'm writing anymore. Daiba's too dumb to get when someone's trying to help him get on a lady's good side. Probably because Zero's preferred method is as strange as possible. I'm a quality author.**


End file.
